Walter White

95, Rancho Mirage

They were married for 72 years, an unbreakable courtship that began for Walter White in Palm Springs in 1948, when he first noticed Mary Anne Jorgenson.

They both had arrived that night at the Chi Chi Club with someone else.

“My mom and dad met on the dance floor, and that was pretty much it,” his son Randall White said. “They were inseparable after that and married the next year.”

A World War II veteran, White received two Purple Hearts and returned from his stint in the Marines with shrapnel in his leg.

That souvenir remained for the balance of his life, which ended Feb. 7 when White died from complications of COVID-19 in Rancho Mirage. He was 95.

Born in Hayward, White was severely burned by boiling water in a kitchen accident early in life. His father, Robert, died in 1929, the same year the Great Depression began.

To survive, White and other members of his family did odd jobs, including caring for seniors and working as fruit pickers throughout Northern California. They hunted and fished for their food.

During the war, White was evacuated twice because of his injuries but both times returned to the front lines in the

South Pacific. He was recognized for actions above the call of duty on Guam when he carried wounded Marines to safety.

Upon his return to the States, White attended Compton College and USC, becoming a lifelong Trojans fan. He worked in sales for years, mostly in office supplies, before finishing in the insurance business.

Primary among White’s passions was restoring vintage cars, a love that dated to his purchase of a 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe shortly after he was married.

“When we were kids, he would buy and sell cars all the time,” Randall White recalled. “He had everything from Jaguars to Model A’s to everything you can imagine from the ’30s and ’40s and into the ’50s.”

White’s last such car was a 1950 Studebaker, which his son now owns.

Years after they were married, White and his wife brought a second home in Powers Lake, N.D., where they would spend their summers. There, he found another 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe, which became his North Dakota car.

White collected coins, loved music and, along with Mary Anne, became “grandparents” to dozens of members of their extended family; the couple’s homes in California and North Dakota were the centers of many celebrations.

White also raised horses — Arabians and quarter horses — at a ranch he started with a friend in Indio. That business began with a stallion named El Greco. White also was active in the Coachella Valley community as part of various charitable and service organizations.

And, of course, he and Mary Anne never stopped dancing.

“They were members of every dance group that existed out in the desert,” Randall said. “When they would go to North Dakota, they were known as ‘the dancers.’ Any event that went on, they attended, and they danced. They would dance regardless of whether anyone else was dancing.”